InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Blue Anshan ❯ The Rescue 5 - A Whole Lot of WTF ( Chapter 27 )

The Blue Anshan

By Alesyira

Summary: Sprinting through the dangerous and unknown can be terribly exhausting...

Chapter Rating: PG. A bit violent, and there's suggestion of things that might not be so nice.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is owned by Rumiko Takahashi, and Yu Yu Hakusho is owned by Togashi Yoshihiro. OCs are my own. I make no profit from this piece of fiction.

Arc 4 - The Rescue 5 - A Whole Lot of WTF

the present

Kagome wasn't sure how long she sat there on the damp ground, staring up at the surreal, reddish pink sky. It was odd to see the sky seem so bright, yet the woods around here were so dark and foreboding. From what she could see, however, she could tell she sat in a sparsely wooded forest amidst skinny trees with branches that looked as sharp as knives. She felt like she'd stepped into one of the many movies she'd seen with strange, parallel realities. 'Only,' she thought with a wry smile, 'this is the same and more – a strange realm mirroring our own, filled with supernatural creatures and dangers far exceeding even the most awesome movie plots...'

She stood slowly and brushed prickly leaves and twigs from her clothes before picking up her backpack and bow. An almost imperceptible tug on her wrist brought her gaze to the bracelet that concealed her youkai appearance. After her last visit to the past, Kagome had taken off her bracelet only once: to show her family what had happened.

Her family had tried to support her in any way they could, between difficulties with the vine's slow regrowth and the resulting bout of sickness that she'd suffered from as the energies within her conflicted for dominance, but Kagome could see the disbelief and hesitation in their eyes as they'd taken in her completely altered appearance. Kagome knew that her family would always accept her for who she was, but that single moment when she'd revealed herself to them had broken her heart. She couldn't bear to see those expressions directed toward her from loved ones, so she never removed the bracelet in their presence again.

But even hiding her true self from her mother and brother had turned out to be more emotionally taxing that she'd originally thought, because they'd never asked why she kept on the bracelet. It was as though her errant thoughts had been correct, and that they had no desire to see her unnatural appearance.

She slipped the thin loop of silver from her wrist and shuddered as the strong magic rippled and faded, revealing green eyes, bright red hair and a tail that curled just above the ground. She grasped her tail carefully between her hands and ran her fingers through the soft fur all the way to the tip. It had been a long time since she'd seen the unfamiliar appendage. Her throat clenched in sadness as her memory drifted briefly over Shippo and his adorable fluffy tail.

Most of Kagome's memories of the fox kit were of the days when he was an armful of fluff and picking on Inuyasha. It was hard to focus on his adolescent form – her most vivid memories of him were emotional train wrecks. He'd fought side-by-side with her in his grown form in their final stand against Naraku, displaying several new abilities that she'd never seen before. He'd snuck up on them as Kikyo and she had worked to seal the Shikon no Tama. He'd carried her back to the hut with quietly spoken words... and then he appeared only briefly to tell her goodbye before he'd vanished from her life.

Over the months since she'd last seen him, she tried to analyze the connection between them. She'd sometimes felt like his surrogate mother when he was still very small; he'd needed support and guidance, affection and coddling, and a safe place to rest his adorable little head. The relationship morphed somewhat when he had changed her physical form, which in turn seemed to spur his previously stunted growth.

She couldn't place her finger on it – she couldn't count the connection as a motherly one once his rapid growth proved his actual age to be near her own. It was as though she'd changed roles from caretaker to... she paused, considering.

A tangible bond had formed between them, and in a way, she felt as though she had become an odd sort of reflection of Shippo. She also suspected that he may have borrowed more than just youki during his growth spurts, but unless she saw him again to verify her theory...

She shook her head free of the wandering thoughts and took a deep breath. She needed to try and stay focused on her current task, and daydreaming about her lost friends would most certainly prove to be a fast route to her early demise. The Makai could be a very dangerous place for anyone.

She looked around at her surroundings and found herself comparing the realm to the one she'd just left. The only similarity between her current location and the park she'd been in minutes before was the approximate number of trees. A streak of violet lightning raced across the horizon and drew her attention to a cluster of strange, spindly objects reaching toward the sky. The sight vaguely reminded her of backhoes and cranes parked at a construction zone overnight, and curious, she found herself wandering toward them.

Instead of equipment at rest, she found a dead spider youkai curled on its back. Its massive legs had been sliced clean off in certain places, and the others were terribly mangled as they twist upwards to set a stark silhouette against the blood red sky. The growing pool of its still-steaming blood reminded Kagome of the many things that went bump in the night in this realm, and she shuddered in slight worry.

She jumped as a blue leaf curled unexpectedly around her neck moments before the entire vine contracted against her skin in a manner akin to a hug. To think that the parasitic plant had developed any kind of empathy toward her distress was nearly laughable – it seemed more likely that it was mimicking responses used between her family members in similar states of emotion. But still... it was odd to think that the vine that had remained mostly inactive over the last several months had taken on noticeably new life in this realm. She could feel the echoes of giddiness as it siphoned off excess energy from her surroundings.

The plant extended a leafy tendril to a nearby trunk and tugged, pulling her away from the carnage she'd been inadvertently staring at for the last few minutes. The image of the Goshinboku flashed through her thoughts as a reminder to her current quest, and she realized she'd been wasting precious time. She spared a wary glance behind her, remembering that there was a chance that the Reikai would notice her movement through the barrier and send someone after her.

She looked around at the completely unfamiliar forest to try and figure out what direction she'd need to travel. The Goshinboku had not been able to give her precise directions on how to locate its counterpart in this realm, just basic landmarks that would prove she'd been going in the right direction. The ancient tree had also given her the impression that the vine would somehow be able to help her make her way. At the time, she'd been unsure as to how that could happen, but as more thin vines began to reach out and pull her through the darkening woods, she realized what the ancient tree might have meant.

She walked through the woods carefully, avoiding contact with the sharp trees and plants that grew in sporadic clusters along the faint path as the vine occasionally corrected her direction. She'd walked for hardly ten minutes before a thick fog seeped from the soil, blanketing everything up to her knees in a thick white shroud that was impossible to see through. To stumble around on unfamiliar land, (possibly wrought with steep cliffs, wide ravines and bottomless pits) was already dangerous enough, and to add on all manners of creepy-crawlies with slimy bits, hooks for claws and very sharp teeth that would easily remain hidden within the opaque mist was almost too much.

Her pace quickened (as she prayed silently to anyone listening that she would not fall to her untimely death off a cliff) and she traveled through the misty forest for maybe half an hour without incident, aside from tripping over an occasional root or rock. She'd imagined her journey to be constant sneaking to avoid detection, or frequently dodging the jaws of hungry monstrosities with a taste for young women, but she had yet to pass a single youkai or evil spirit.

As quickly as it had appeared, the unnatural fog had faded away to reveal the forest floor once again. 'This isn't so bad,' she thought, stepping carefully over a gnarled tree root. A small, furry animal snuffled about a bush nearby and paused to look up at her. A tiny ear flicked as its little nose quivered in the air, and she couldn't help but clasp her hands under her chin and coo at the sight of the adorable ball of fluff.

Until its furry lips pulled back in a menacing snarl to reveal rows of impossibly long, razor sharp teeth. 'Okay, not so cute. ...Is it showing its teeth to try and scare me away? It must be afraid of me-AiiEEE!" she screamed, shielding her face with her free arm as it came flying at her, its tiny claws extended.

Two seconds and a small thump later, she peeked between her fingers to see an unmoving ball of fur lying before her feet. The blue vine retreated to curl back around her shoulder and gave her another squeeze.

'Oh kami, is it dead?' The urge to nudge it with her shoe passed out of her thoughts faster than an Olympic sprinter. Touching unknown (and dangerous) things in the Makai was a very, very bad idea.

She carefully stepped around the youki drained carcass and continued along her way at a brisk walk, following the gentle tugs the vine made on trees she passed.

A few hours later, Kagome was close to tears. She'd stumbled into a hidden pool of stagnant brownish water that had left a greasy, yucky residue on her pants up to her knees. Her feet were uncomfortably soaked and her shoes squished loudly with every step. The terrain had steadily grown worse with rough breaks in the ground, which lead to innumerable trips and falls. Her hands, shins, and knees had numerous cuts and scratches, which stung as her disgusting pants rubbed against them.

The vine had needed to take out at least a dozen youkai as she'd traveled through the woods, and even Kagome knew that she'd left behind a far too obvious trail. The Anshan had begun emitting a strange, slightly annoying noise that hummed from two clusters of buds near her shoulder and hip, which grew in volume each time the plant struck down another potential danger to Kagome. She'd begun to think that the vine was storing the stolen youki in those weird clusters. (She regretted not paying more attention during botany class.)

She was also positive that the vine had actually started projecting strange emotions and images into her thoughts… The most easily identifiable was content satisfaction coupled with curling warmth that spread along her back like a soft blanket. The plant gave her the impression that it had 'eaten' its fill and was supremely happy with their journey. Of course, thinking that her defense no longer had a reason to defend her proved to be a very unsettling thought...

A bit before midnight, she'd had a strange, eye-opening encounter proving that the vine didn't rely solely upon youki absorption to defend her, and wouldn't simply let her perish just because it had a really nice dinner.

Perhaps it was true that the Anshan had absorbed so much that it couldn't take in any more, but Kagome suspected the vine had suddenly developed a horrible, cruel, vile curiosity as to how long Kagome could stand before a monster easily three times her height before she ran... or peed herself. Whatever the reason, it didn't even attempt to leech a single smidgen of power from the hulking beast that had loomed over Kagome's rather short stature.

She felt the slight motion of vine around her limbs as she craned her neck to look up at the hungry youkai that towered over her. It roared and reared back a massive, clawed hand to strike out at her, and she felt practically frozen to the spot, vaguely wondering when her life would start flashing before her eyes. Just before that huge instrument of Guaranteed-Kagome-Death struck her in the everything, the vine swiftly pulled her out of the way.

The creature didn't even have time to turn toward her again before a sharp tendril shot out and pierced its neck, followed quickly by several other similar appendages in various key locations. The beast tittered dizzily before falling heavily to the ground, its thick tongue lolling out of its mouth as it fell unconscious.

'Poison...?' she thought, remembering the description the old woman had given them a year ago. ...Being pierced by one of its sharp leaves will bring you a quick death.

Kagome shuddered in revulsion, remembering she had quite a lot of vine currently growing within her. Maybe she wasn't really immune to the toxins it produced. Maybe only the tips of the tendrils were poisonous, and it was really just biding its time until it no longer found her useful.

She gasped in shocked pain as one of the bright blue tendrils, exactly like the one that had attacked the monstrous youkai lying near dead at her feet, pierced the skin of her left arm. Her hand snapped over the wound as blood dripped from the small puncture, and she stared in disbelief at the curled vine as it hovered in front of her face. It remained there for a moment before it drew itself back into her sleeve and came to a rest upon her shoulder. 'Are you serious?'

An answering squeeze was the plant's response.

The idea that her vine was already responding to her thoughts was more than a little disturbing, but she had to try and accept the situation in a positive light, keeping in mind that it was also protecting her from the unfamiliar dangers of the Makai.

An odd scent came to her nose as the last of the attacking vines had retreated to her shoulders. She sniffed lightly, trying to ignore the dying creature's rattling breaths as she stepped around it. As she glanced around, she slowly became aware of a strange, sugary sweet smell that had begun to fill the area. It was something that vaguely reminded her of old cake, but with an underlying scent of blood.

'How odd...' The farther she moved away from the creature, the weaker the scent. She realized with a growing sense of alarm that the smell was coming from the youkai, and it was getting stronger. If she, with her relatively weak nose, could smell that so easily, then she needed to make haste and get out of the area before something curious (and hungrier, or bigger) chanced upon her.

Another vine snapped out and dragged her in the direction she was supposed to be traveling, pulling her quickly away from the site of growing interest for other dangerous youkai. She found herself moving along faster than her feet could keep up.

Kagome sniffled unhappily, brushing a tear from her cheek as she remembered more of the troubles she'd stepped into. Just when she'd thought it couldn't get any worse than cute fur balls trying to bite off her nose, disgusting messes ruining her clothes, and multiple brushes with death from monsters large as a house... she'd accidentally stumbled upon a camp full of horrendous, leering, youkai bandits. That was most definitely not her idea of a Good Time... (Kagome could hear a little voice whine in the back of her head, 'What ever happened to the drop-dead gorgeous thieves just waiting to spirit you away to some fantasy setting?')

She'd been making pretty good time, allowing the Anshan to zip her through the forest at a break-neck, heart-racing speed. It took a little bit of time and several gasps of pain for the vine to figure out what her body couldn't handle as it pulled her this way and that, barely missing several trees that seemed to suddenly appear in her path. Had she been chewing gum during this trip, she most definitely would have died from choking at least five times by now.

When she'd chanced upon the lovely, moonlit clearing, the vine suddenly had nothing else in its immediate vicinity to latch onto, and so she'd come to a rather unexpected stop. The forward momentum from the vine's last motions had made her trip over her own feet, and she'd tumbled to the ground, cutting her hand on a terribly placed rock. She'd sighed in exhausted irritation and had stood to adjust her backpack and the bow still slung across her body.

"Well, well... What do we have here?" A raspy voice said from her right.

Kagome winced in slight surprise before she rolled her eyes in annoyance. 'Can't the bad guys come up with anything less cliché to spout?'

"Looks like we've got ourselves a pretty little visitor," another chimed in. "Did you get lost, sweetheart?"

'I guess they can't...' she grumbled to herself. She turned toward the group of humanoid bandits with her hands held up in a placating gesture. "I'm just passing through on business. I didn't mean to disturb-" she glanced behind two of the closer youkai to see a haggard female stirring something in a pot, "-your dinner." She finished, taking a step backwards. "I'll just be on my way," she said with a forced smile.

"Oh, but honey," the first one said, wiping his filthy hands on his pants. "We could really use your company..."

The second leered at her openly. "In more ways than one," he murmured, and Kagome blanched as a few others stood and turned toward her.

'Ah, crap,' she sighed, resigning herself to another race through the woods. She whirled on her heel and fled into the tree line, and the vine immediately snapped into action and jerked her away from her pursuing would-be assailants.

The first that caught up with her had been very quick on his feet, easily dodging and darting around the trees to actually pass her and move into her path, but he fell fast as the vines snapped out and absorbed his youki. One of his comrades that had nearly caught up saw him fall. "Bitch!" he screamed and whipped out a sharp knife. He threw it with deadly accuracy at her back, and it would have pierced her heart had the vine not deflected it just in time.

Its diverted path sliced through the flesh of her arm and side, and Kagome stumbled from the sharp pain. The bandit had already drawn another knife and was mid-leap to embed the deadly tool in her spine when the Anshan absorbed his youki as well.

Before the second bandit's energy-drained corpse had landed on the ground, a third male bodily tackled her from the side and knocked the breath out of her. She felt a hot breath against her ear as she struggled to get up, and then heard a pop and a hiss from something at her shoulder. Her attacker rolled off of her unexpectedly and she quickly got to her feet. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight of her assailant shaking on the ground from convulsions and foaming from the mouth.

A fading glow from her shoulder caught her eye, and she looked toward it to find a flower had unexpectedly bloomed. A cloud of pollen still hovered around the opalescent petals, and as it dispersed, the accompanying glow vanished as well. The tormented youkai became still a moment later, its eyes glazed over in unconsciousness.

She quickly backed away from him, unsure how soon he'd wake up. She tripped over a body behind her and fell on her butt, gasping in pain from her forgotten wounds. The left side of her chest ached terribly and she suspected that she may have cracked a rib. Knowing that more than just three had followed her from the bandit's camp, she scrambled to her feet and started running farther away, wincing in pain as the damned vine yanked her forward at a faster speed.

So... of course she had reason to want to sit down and just cry. She was exhausted, sore, and bleeding, her clothes were stained and had dried muck plastered all over them, and she was hungry. The terrain had grown rough and uneven, and with her current injuries, the vine had eventually stopped pulling her along at such a fast pace.

She'd only just reached the first of several landmarks: a steep ravine caused by a powerful clash between burrowing youkai some decades ago. She yawned heavily and tripped over a rock in the 'path' as she tried to rub her eyes. A glance at her watch told her how very late it was, and she grimaced in annoyance.

'I'm going to have to stop and sleep in a little bit,' she thought, glancing around at the ground warily, 'But I can't sleep here... it's too dangerous.' She looked upwards at the tree branches above her, and was happy to note that the species of tree in this area did not have the knife-sharp branches she'd seen earlier.

"How convenient..." She smiled a little as she looked around for a limb low enough to grab onto. One of the vines pulled away from her back and looped high about her, soon followed by several others. She gave her 'pet' a silent thanks as it took her high into the branches and supported her as comfortably as it could. She took off her backpack and placed it against the trunk behind her, to use it as a slightly lumpy pillow and promptly fell asleep, her aching wounds and hunger forgotten in the bliss of much needed rest.